Visibility

For online marketers, getting desirable, natural search results can often feel like one big magic trick, similar to trying to pull a rabbit out of the old proverbial white hat, only to find it’s escaped through the bottom hatch. Every time you think you've got the system figured out, that same system goes and changes the rules up on you. Why? Because it is simply the nature of SEO; a steady current that ebbs and flows at the whim of consumer-related trends and needs.

Organic search is named as such for a reason. It's a living, breathing entity that reacts to its current environment, constantly evolving to its surroundings. In the early days, it was a different story. Search engines were a veritable free-for-all. Anyone that had a little technical knowledge, foresight and ambition quickly realized that they could spike their search traffic with the use of a few well-placed keywords (stuffing as we might call it today,) awarding them a featured spot in the coveted top-ten, first page listings.

This strategy was king! What was not to like? Once a routine was established and a high ranking achieved, online marketers could sit pretty and bask in the glow of their online prowess and general SEO awesomeness. This sort of ranking was the lynchpin that would surely send the message potential customers who was boss in the industry they sought. But, not so fast my friends.

Search engines quickly got wise to these practices, becoming acutely aware of a gap in the process. It became evident that the Internet was quickly becoming a marketer’s playground, bending to the whim of their business needs, rather than the consumer’s true needs. It was shaping up to be the modern day equivalent of flipping the pages of a the dusty, old phone book in search of a florist, only to find the page was full of advertisements for plumbers. No one wants to have to deal with navigating in this manner, grasping at straws to find what they need. In response, the engines have taken this factor into account and have grown increasingly savvy, adjusting the controls by using more refined algorithms and constant changes to the page structure, and ultimately keeping those less nimble marketers on the tips of their toes.

Enter Our Old Pal Relevance
Well, queue Bruce Springsteen and call them the glory days, because the times of static results are long, long gone. In the past few years alone, we have watched attentively as the holy trinity of search engines, Google, Yahoo!, and (the newly minted) Bing, have tested and tried new strategies for the singular purpose of weeding out those scandalous Black Hat marketers that are constantly skewing results and attempting to game the system. We’ve seen the addition of several new attributes in our results as of late. These include hyper location-based results through the use of more advanced geolocation tools, pinpointed local maps to accompany these honed results, and instant search term suggestions, to name a few. All of these changes have pushed marketers to constantly reassess and look at their online strategy in a brand new light; one of relevance.

You see, those crafty search engines, and the engineers behind them, are brimming with sage wisdom, and are all well aware that search performance based on the likes of keywords and alt-tags alone weren’t really doing the trick. For instance, any average Joe out there on the Web could promote a bogus site, under the guise of a valid site, simply by tying another company’s legitimate keywords to their own (not-so-legitimate) site. It didn’t take long for the search engine brain trust to realize that this behavior wasn’t benefitting anyone, and so began the solution.

Keeping it Useful
By now, most of us have caught a glimpse of the latest television commercials for Bing. A cluster of sidetracked, online search victims, lead detrimentally astray by results completely unrelated to their needs, beautifully illustrating how confusing and mind-boggling search without relevance can be. This is the pitfall that all of the engines aim to avoid. So in order to do so, they rely on a bevy of information in order to pull the most accurate and useful results. This includes taking into account previous search terms, location from which the search is taking place, and the latest contender; social media.

How Social Media Changed the Game
These days, you would be hard-pressed to find a proactive business that hasn’t implemented some form of social media strategy into their budget and marketing plan. Sure, there is the benefit of looking hip, and keeping your finger on the pulse of what your consumers are saying about your company and your brand, but social plays a much deeper role in terms of SEO. In the past year, the major search engines have begun to look towards social signals to determine a higher level of relevance for searchers, based not only on their search terms, but also by what friends in their various social networks suggest. In other words, the more active a user becomes in the social sphere, the stronger that user’s “social authority” becomes.

The front runner in this category is Facebook, found to be touting a ‘like’ button on nearly every page online. More recently, the addition of the share button and a variety of other bells and whistles, such as group sharing and tagging, have been implemented, upping the game even more. Google recently responded to these developments by rolling out the ‘+1’ button, their answer to the ‘like’ button. Add to that the foray of location-based check-in sites, such as Google Places and Foursquare, and it becomes evident that the engines are getting better at gathering more and more relevant information on consumers habits, likes, dislikes, and more, and then storing and using that data to narrow down results through the consumers very own search patterns.

Friend or Foe?
There are pros and cons to this strategy. While consumers may be getting more focused search results, these parameters also leave a narrow margin for discovering the great unknown out there on the Web. In other words, you may be missing out on an amazing new product that is completely relevant to your search, but that you never even knew existed because your determined search parameters are blocking those results out. They may be viewed as non-applicable to your needs for a range of reasons set forth by the search engine being used. While these loopholes are constantly explored and acknowledged by the engineers behind the algorithms, to keep the playing field fair, a marketer is left to wonder how to navigate these pitfalls and ensure that their products and services are pushed out in front of interested consumers, without reverting to forbidden tactics.


The Bottom-Line
When determining a search strategy, it is important to remember that this process will be forever on the move. The best way to stay ahead is to keep in tune with the latest trends in the marketplace, keep your finger on the pulse of what the masses are responding to, and keep an eye out for opportunities surrounding those trends. It isn’t necessary to jump on the bandwagon with each and every flash in the pan concept that comes along, but stay vigilant to the big newsmakers. Early adoption will put you in good graces, helping to build your credibility in the eyes of the engines. It is equally as important to actively manage all online outlets that involve your business, to establish a well rounded presence. Get out there and tweet, post, share, and use those tools to boost your credibility and push your best attributes to the top of the results. Keep in mind, search is an instant environment. A single tweet can appear in search results within a matter of seconds, so stay cognoscente of the message you wish to send and the image you wish your business to portray.

Tips for Success
Keep your strategy honest! Many marketers think that strategies such as keyword stuffing their URLs on the sly will help them to pull rank within the engines. Be careful not to use techniques that are sneaky in nature to boost your visibility. The engines are smart, and once they become attuned to the fact that you are using any form of Black Hat practices, or forbidden techniques, you stand to lose a lot more than you do to gain, as your site will be flagged, causing detrimental damage to your rank. Similarly, don’t try to play tricks with social media tools. When you carry out activities such as giving bad reviews to your competitors, or flagging their links in the search engines, it is only a matter of time before such behavior is discovered. Once in the hot seat, the search rankings that your business has worked so hard to earn will likely slip, sometimes taking years to rebuild, so keep your strategy on the up-and-up.